[NEohioPAL] Review of "Is He Dead" at the Beck Center

[Bob Abelman]

'Is He Dead?' Most certainly

 

Bob Abelman

News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times Courier

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

            

This review appeared in the Times papers 2/11/10

 

Upon seeing his premature obituary in the national press, humorist Mark Twain noted that "reports of my death are greatly exaggerated."  Reviews reporting the death of his long-lost play are not. 

 

Written in 1898, Is He Dead? never made it to the stage in Mr. Twain's time. It subsequently gathered dust in the UC-Berkley Library archive until it was discovered in 2002, was adapted by playwright David Ives shortly thereafter, opened on Broadway in 2007, and closed three months later.  It has resurfaced on the Beck Center stage in Lakewood, and runs until February 28.

 

This farce centers on Jean-François Millet, the real-life 19th century French painter.  As the play opens, the starving artist is trying to figure out how to pay off his many debts so he can marry his sweetheart, Marie.  At the urging of his friends, Millet fakes his own demise to inflate the value of his art after a prospective buyer remarked that "The deader he is, the better he is."  Millet then poses as his garishly dressed, fictitious twin sister in order to enjoy the proceeds of the now-rampant sales.  The hoax wildly unravels in true farce fashion. 

 

Mr. Twain borrowed from the best in his construction of Is He Dead?, including himself.  The play is based on his own 1893 short story Is He Living or Is He Dead? which, in turn, resurrected jokes, running gags and witty word-play from an assortment of previously written travelogues and novels.  The whole notion of mistaken identity as a humorous ploy was established long before Mr. Twain put pen to paper, as reflected in Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest and, with a similarly gender-bending twist, in Brandon Thomas' Charley's Aunt.  

 

In the adaptation currently on stage at the Beck Center, it is unclear where Mr. Twain ends and Mr. Ives begins, save for the fact that the original was written in three acts and this version requires only two.  What is clear is that Is He Dead? covers pretty familiar territory that is witty at times but is still a woefully tired and predictable piece of storytelling.

 

One can hardly blame director Matthew Earnest for taking creative liberties in its retelling.  

 

Mr. Earnest has elected to stage this farce as a highly stylized burlesque melodrama, all for comedic effect.  Characters move and react in an exaggerated dramatic manner, read lines with full awareness that they are in front of an audience, and appear in exaggerated, old-fashioned make-up that includes heavy eyeliner, rosy cheeks and painted lips.  

 

Production values complement this vision.  Millet's Act One studio, designed by Don McBride, is a wonderfully undersized, narrow set that, when crammed with characters, reinforces the impression of an obviously staged vaudeville performance.  Lights shift dramatically in accordance to the mood of the moment, in true burlesque fashion.

 

All this overstatement nicely neutralizes the inconsistencies that exist in this farce by giving it all an air of parody.  Unfortunately, this pretense grows old very quickly, is not successfully sustained throughout the production, and is not equally embraced by the performers.

 

The least burlesque of all is Nicholas Koesters as the artist Millet.  His character or, perhaps, his characterization, is out of sorts with the others, particularly Curt Arnold as the play's villain Bastien André, and Adam Thatcher, Tom Woodward and John Peters as Millet's loyal friends.  

 

Once he dons the dress, the talented Mr. Koesters gives up the façade of burlesque completely and resorts to full-force farce.  

 

Although all the actors are wonderful in this production, with stand-out performances by Laurel Johnson as Millet's fiancée, Liz Conway as her sister, and a hilarious Mark Seven in a variety of roles, the cumulative result is unsatisfying and a bit of a mess.

 

Mark Twain, known for his sage wisdom, once said "Always do right.  This will gratify some people and astonish the rest."  If only he took his own advice. 
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